Published 6:30 am, Thursday, March 7, 2002

A northeast Houston resident, Cantu, 60, is a veteran of Metro for 19 years. He makes sure the buses and Texas Medical Center shuttles run on time.

Long before that, though, he was a mortar gunner in the Ia Drang Valley, where the first major encounter between U.S. troops and Viet Cong soldiers took place. A photograph of Cantu running to recover the body of a dead American soldier was printed in major magazines, including U.S. News and World Report.

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He is mentioned multiple times in the book, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young, which inspired the movie. And, Cantu is a childhood friend of one of the book's authors, Joseph Galloway, who co-wrote the 528-page account of the Ia Drang battle with retired Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, using the written memories of Cantu and 250 other soldiers.

"I saw over 1,000 bodies on the ground at one time. It's been 36 years, but I know that like yesterday," Cantu said. "All the time I was there I was scared. My heart was pounding. Fear grips hold of your heart and you don't want to let loose."

Cantu's wife, Ivy, said her husband didn't utter a word about the war until 10 years ago.

"He would be in a trance on the sofa," she said.

Then he would tell her, "Today was the day we went into battle," flashing back to November 1965.

Like most soldiers fighting in the unpopular war and severely outnumbered by the enemy, Cantu kept his experiences silent. After the war, many soldiers went their separate ways and lost touch.

However, the movie, which stars Mel Gibson, is inspiring many of them, including Cantu, to organize more reunions.

"I've had a renewed interest in the war with the reunion and movie and all," said Patrick Stephenson, 59, who fought in Vietnam with Cantu and has recently contacted men he hasn't seen in nearly four decades. "I suddenly started getting in touch with them after all this time. I'm in touch with, I don't know, 15 or 20 now. We're all e-mailing."

Martin Latigue, 61, said renewed contact has made it easier to discuss the war.

"People who have a hard time are the guys who haven't been reunited. Those are the guys we worry about," he said. "I did not want to be reunited with the guys because many who I thought were killed had survived. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to face them without breaking down. But each time it's been much easier."

Last November, nearly 50 soldiers from 7th Cavalry who fought in the Ia Drang battle went to Washington, D.C., to meet the film's director, Randall Wallace, and actor Sam Elliot, and to view parts of the film. Those who saw it applaud its accuracy but warn of piercing realism.

"I think probably it's going to be fairly difficult for the guys to go through it again," Latigue said.

Just talking about it takes Cantu back to the fighting fields in the Chu Pong mountains. He was 24 then, with just 10 days left in his two-year stint in the Army.

There was a lull in the fighting, which meant time to retrieve the bodies of dead U.S. soldiers. As Cantu ran to recover one, a photographer popped out from behind a bush and shot his picture. It was Galloway, a reporter from United Press International and former classmate of Cantu in Refugio, Texas, who flew to the killing fields in a helicopter to cover the war.

"I saw this tall, skinny guy zigzagging across the LZ -- the Landing Zone. All I could see were white eyes. He said, `Joe Galloway. Don't you know me, man? It's Vince Cantu.' I was astounded," Galloway said. "We talked a little bit. He said, `You know if I live through this, I'll be home in Refugio by Christmas.' "

Galloway's photograph of Cantu soon hit news magazines and newspapers, giving Cantu a small collection of keepsakes that have yellowed over the years. They serve as reminders that life is indeed good.

"I know I could have been dead for the past 36 years," he said. "People say they have bad days. It may be a bad day for someone else, but it's never a bad day for me. I've learned you can't take life for granted."

But he said he plans to retire soon from Metro, pick up his guitar and resume a career in music. Years ago, he used to sing the blues, country tunes and Spanish hits in local hot spots.